


Five Minus Three Equals Two

by CalledOutInTheDark



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2018-08-09 16:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7809196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalledOutInTheDark/pseuds/CalledOutInTheDark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>UPDATE: See chapter one for notes.</p><p>The moments in time that took them from two, to three then four and five and then back to two again and the important moments in between.  </p><p>The gains and losses are so much more than simple addition and subtraction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Plus One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE: I am completely re-editing this story. Hopefully it will feel more like the single continuous story that it is, not unconnected drabbles. There will still be some gaps of time between chapters, but I hope they will be easier to piece together and understand now. As always, I more than welcome critique, thank you.
> 
> Gen + Ang

The first time they kissed it tasted of apples and it was a moment that Angeal would never forget.

It was late summer in Banora, Angeal and Geneais were lazing about in the shade of the apple trees. Angeal was on his back, arms folded behind his head and perfectly relaxed. He listened as Genesis read aloud, Loveless of course but Angeal didn't mind hearing it once more. He was sure he would have the novel memorized by the end of summer. It was Gen's favourite and Angeal liked to hear his voice. 

"Angeal? Did you fall asleep again?" 

The raven haired teen didn't react, his breath steady and even. He wasn't asleep though, deciding whether or not he should give his friend a good scare just to get their blood pumping since they were being so lazy. 

He heard Genesis huff and carefully place his treasured book aside in the grass. Angeal heard the brush of fabric and felt the air shift around him. He felt a gentle hand brush through his messy hair, felt that hand brush along the side of his face and come to rest delicately against his cheek. 

Angeal felt a breath of sweet apples as Genesis leaned over him. Angeal could feel him quite close, he felt the tickle of Gen's auburn hair on his face before he finally felt the barely there brush of soft and plump lips against his own.

Genesis gasped loudly, finding himself suddenly on his back, Angeal's bulkier form above him. Angeal had flipped them over as soon as Gen had started to pull away from the stolen kiss. Genesis' eyes were wide as he stared up at the dark haired teen. 

"I'm not sorry." He stated defiantly.

"Me either." Angeal replied without missing a beat, leaning in to properly kiss Genesis. 

One kiss turned into two and then three... 

Genesis didn't finish his book that day.

And didn't mind at all.


	2. One Thousand Milliliters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years later...
> 
> 1 Liter

Genesis tried his best to focus on his breathing.

He tried not to focus on the liquid fire that was slowly being dripped into his veins through an IV in his arm.

It wasn't the auburn man's first mako treatment and it wouldn't be his last.

Genesis jumped, eyes flying open when he felt a hand on his knee.

"Sorry." Angeal rumbled gently in apology, reaching out to take Genesis's free hand in his own. "Half way done, how are you feeling?" He asked, nodding to the half drained IV bag that hung beside Genesis' hospital bed. The mako was diluted but there was still a visible and a rather eerie glow to the liquid. 

Genesis made a rather ugly and unpleasant face at Angeal. "Oh you know... burning from the inside out." He desperately wanted to get up from the hospital bed that he was laying on and crawl into his lover's comforting arms, however, they were not alone. Between the scientists and other Third Class SOLDIERs, the room was almost over flowing with bodies. The beds were all full, scientists milling about and one wall was lined with chairs full of other SOLDIERs either waiting for their treatment or waiting to be given the go ahead to leave. 

"Could you make me any more anxious for my turn Gen?" Angeal joked, trying to lighten his lover's mood though he knew perfectly well how awful mako treatments were and it was his turn next.

"You know I can, don't tempt me." Genesis growled between clenched teeth, narrowing his eyes when Angeal had the balls to chuckle at his current misfortune. 

The auburn haired man just huffed and let his head fall back so he could stare at the sterile white ceiling above his bed. He wasn't actually that mad at his lover for trying to tease and distract him. Genesis annoyed that he'd forgotten to bring a novel to read while waiting for this to be over with, he'd even forgotten his favorite copy of Loveless, which was almost unheard of. 

"I thought running away from home and joining the army would have a little bit more ... romance to it then this." He said quietly, voice wistful and slightly melancholy as he motioned with his free hand to the crowded room. He'd thought there would be more swords and magic, heart pounding battles and rushed and quick make-out sessions between himself and his lover. Instead there was way more medical appointments, lectures and tests than Genesis thought there would be. 

"Gen..." Angeal sighed gently, obviously preparing for a gentle speech to remind Genesis what real life was like but the dark haired man was interrupted.

"There is nothing romantic about being prepped for war like a weapon." A gruff voice spoke up from the bed beside them. That gravely and throaty voice didn't match the beautiful face it came from, it was startling every time to hear.

Sephiroth lay on the bed beside Gen's own The silver haired SOLDIER was younger by a few years than Genesis and Angeal, he still had some roundness to his face that didn't match his lanky and long frame or his husky voice. Still... there was an odd beauty to him. Genesis thought the youth would be cuter if he frowned less and smiled... ever, or even a pout would be an upgrade.

Sephiroth's IV liquid glowed much, much brighter than Genesis' own bag of water down mako. The auburn haired man wondered if he'd ever be able to stand such a concentrated level with such a stoic face. 

"There isn't." Genesis agreed, and was silent for the rest of his treatment.


	3. Three's A Crowd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years later...

"He's very handsome, like the goddess herself sculpted those fine features." 

It hadn't been a goddess, it had been a growth spurt. Now the silver haired SOLDIER had no traces of youthful baby softness to him.

Angeal resisted the urge to roll his eyes as his boyfriend drooled over their peer standing on the other side of the training grounds. Sephiroth, was another Second Class SOLDIER like the both of them now. It was cool and windy that morning, it made Sephiroth's silver hair whip about wildly but he was ignoring it as he spoke with a group of Thirds he was training that day. Angeal had to admit, Sephiroth was good looking, in an oddly alien kind of way; he looked too perfect to be a real person.

"I talked to him the other day, we were both waiting in line for the new VR room. I mentioned Loveless and he quoted his favorite passage."

Genesis was still swooning over the other Second Class and Angeal couldn't help when he snorted and looked away toward their own group of Thirds that were currently attempting to activate fire materia. Angeal wondered if his lover ever remembered that he in fact also had Loveless memorized since they were teens, even though he had never physically picked up the book himself; All thanks to Genesis reading it to him constantly.

"Why don't you date him then?"

He heard Genesis scoff and Angeal couldn't help grinning a little, "Are you jealous?" The red head accused, bumping their shoulders together and smiling as well. 

"No, would you like to know why Gen?"

Genesis indulged him. "Why Ang?"

"Because you're too romantic... childhood sweet hearts trumps crush. You believe in true love." 

Genesis could be a total spoiled brat and was a well known drama queen among their peers but he was consistent. Cheating wasn't something his lover would do to him.  
Angeal was rewarded with a kiss to the cheek for that comment. 

"You know me too well."

"I do, I know you better than you know yourself."

Genesis wrinkled his nose, "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked with a little huff but before the red head could get his answer one of the Thirds caught his own sleeve on fire and Genesis jumped into action to save the poor boy. Angeal saw his lover had the situation under control, he let his gaze turn back across the training grounds to watch Sephiroth smoothly demonstrate some intricate footwork to his group of Thirds. 

He was quite handsome now, even though Angeal had yet to see the man smile.


	4. Fourteen Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years later...

Angeal always believed that the best thing about SOLDIER was getting to see the world. Over the last few years that he'd been with Shinra, Angeal had seen more of Gaia than most people would see in their entire lives. 

What the dark haired First didn't like was the actual traveling. 

Before his mako treatments Angeal always got motion sickness when flying. The treatments had muted the motion sickness but there was always a slight sense of unease the Angeal had when flying. The First class SOLDIER didn't care whether it was a transport plane or a helicopter, flight always felt unnatural to him, put him on edge. Long haul flights didn't help either. It was just over ten hours in the air straight between Midgar and the Shinra company outpost at the Icicle Inn area. After refueling at the outpost it was another four hours of flight to the Northern Crater and research camp that they were heading to. 

They couldn't stop for a layover longer than getting the plane refueled. The weather around the Northern Crater was fickle and it wasn't uncommon for a storm to blown in no matter what the time of year. If the skies were clear they had to get there while they could. 

"Here." 

Angeal was pulled out of his head by a soothing, rumbling voice.

He looked up to see Sephiroth there in front of him. The silver haired First was facing him, obviously kneeling on his seat in row in from of Angeal. The younger man was holding out what the dark haired man could only assume was a cup of fresh coffee. Thank Gaia for small comforts, like coffee machines on the long haul planes. 

"Thank you Sephiroth." 

The other First simply nodded and remained where he was knelt on his seat facing Angeal, sipping his own fresh coffee as well. 

"Is it a fear of heights?" Sephiroth asked, voice even and steady as usual. There was no malice or disdain in his question, just simple curiosity; A need to understand his fellow First. "Or is it crashing? If it is the latter issue it might be reassuring to know by this point in our SOLDIER careers that we'd survive a crash from this altitude."

Angeal couldn't help the small chuckle, shaking his head gently. 

"No, neither of those things, but thank you for the uh.. comforting words." Angeal took a sip of his coffee and was surprised to find it just as he liked, just enough sugar and cream to take off the bitter edge. Maybe that was how the silver haired First took his as well? "I just... have never enjoyed flying. Feels weird. Usually a distraction helps take my mind off of it but... Well my usual distraction is a little indisposed." Angel explained, nodding down wards and Sephiroth's neon green eyes followed. 

Genesis was dead asleep, using Angeal's lap as a pillow and had both arms wrapped securely around his boyfriend's waist. The rest of the auburn haired First was stretched out on the remaining seats in the row. Angeal was gently combing the fingers of his free hand through his love's hair, the motion soothing for the both of them really. Usually Genesis would distract him, either with talking or reading. Sometimes Genesis would even read him something that wasn't Loveless. 

"To be fair, he literally stepped off of one plane from a mission and then right onto this one with us for this one." Angeal couldn't fault Genesis for needing the rest and Sephiroth nodded in understanding. Sometimes a SOLDIER needed to take advantage of travel time to make up for rest between missions. 

"I could... distract you." Sephiroth said it so straight laced that it didn't even hold a single suggestive hint to it. "We can go over the mission briefing. It is boring and benign and there are way too many pages of useless information that it should take us the rest of the flight to read through."

Angeal smiled again, "Read it to me? We can figure out our game plan together, let sleeping beauty rest and fill him in once we get there."

The silver haired First nodded, reaching out to grab the folder containing their mission briefing. He took another sip of his coffee before he began to read aloud, but his voice was gentle and even to no disturb their fellow First who still slept. 

Angeal found Spehiroth's voice strangely soothing. There was an understated warmth to it, Angeal understood now why Genesis took every chance he could to engage Sephiroth in conversation. Angeal had no doubt he would enjoy listening to Sephiroth recite passages of Loveless as well.


	5. One Hundred and Twentytwo Miles Per Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How SOLDIERS fly...
> 
> Terminal Velocity

Genesis was gently shaken awake by his lover and despite managing to sleep for most of the flight, the red haired First still felt exhausted.

A sweet little good-morning kiss from his childhood sweetheart and a fresh cup of coffee from his work-crush were great incentives to join the waking world once more though. He sipped his coffee, savoring the hot and rich caffeine while Angeal and Sephiroth briefed him on their mission and told him their plan for once they hit the ground.

"Did they really think three Firsts were necessary for this mission?" Genesis questioned, pacing up and down the aisle between the rows of seats, sipping his coffee and working out the stiffness in his legs. Angeal was making more coffee in the small kitchenette towards the front of the plane while Sephiroth remained in his seat. The silver haired First was braiding his hair and it was possibly the cutest and most human thing that Genesis had witnessed his crush ever do. "The briefing seems to be making it quite clear that is a simple case of monsters being attracted to a natural mako spring. That's nothing new... springs popping up here and there in the North isn't unheard of either. Couldn't this have been dealt with by a squad of Thirds?"

"We need to be asking different questions Genesis." Sephiroth replied evenly as he finished braiding his silver locks, tying off the ends with a simple black hair band. "What are we not being told about this mystery spring and do we know for sure that we are in fact the first team that's been sent in?"

This made Genesis pause in his pacing and Angeal paused in mixing his coffee.

The dark haired First frowned, "I haven't noticed anyone missing...." He liked to try and keep at least a passing knowledge of all the SOLDIERS that were active, there wasn't _that_ many of them after all.

"Sephiroth is right though...." Genesis said after finishing off his coffee. "I've been in Wutai the last three weeks. Ang, you've inspecting reactors all across the continent, coming and going from Midgar constantly and Seph..."

Gen turned to the silver haired First with a raised brow, realizing he had no idea what Sephiroth had been up to for the last few weeks since they had last seen him.

"I've been in the labs." Angeal and Genesis both froze up at that answer. "It was nothing serious," Sephiroth continued with a shrug. "But I now know that I can survive the Wutai plague and full disclosure I am not contagious ... anymore."

That bit of information did nothing to dampen Genesis's crush, despite what he remembered of the Wutai plague's less palliative symptoms.

Angeal found himself oddly impressed by this new information, that sickness was nothing to brush off with ease usually. 

Before anything more could be discussed the door to the cockpit was opened and the co-pilot appeared. "Quick update, you might want to start getting ready for arrival."

"There's an hour left until arrival." Sephiroth replied and the co-pilot nodded.

"There is but the temperature is dipping below forty and we can't risk landing. We'll fly low enough for you to avoid terminal velocity." Sephiroth nodded in understanding.

An hour later found the three Firsts standing together in the cargo bay of the plane.

Despite being bundled up in Shinra's newest, light weight winter gear, Genesis shivered a little and leaned against Angeal's shoulder while they waited to enter the drop zone.

"Remind me to never complain about jungle drops again after this." Angeal chuckled, pressing a kiss to Gen's brow before the signal light turned red above them and Sephiroth pressed the button to open the cargo bay. The bay was instantly flooded with chilled air and Sephiroth wasted no time pushing out the two crates of their supplies before following them out into the open air without a second thought to it.

Behind Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal followed a few moments later, jumping from the plane, hand in hand.

The free fall always made Genesis feel so alive. 

It made him feel like he could actually fly and for a few short moments, the red haired SOLDIER let himself believe he was flying.

The impact from landing was softened only slightly by the snow, but it still rattled Genesis' bones. The wind whipped past his ears sharply and Angeal gave his hand a gentle squeeze as they both stood and took a moment to recover from the jump. When they were ready, the pair started the trek towards Sephiroth and their supplies.

Genesis hated the cold but if he had to be stranded on the edge of the Northern Crater with anyone; Gen would choose to be there with Angeal and Seph.


	6. Minus Fourty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fahrenheit & Celsius

"Do I even want to know how cold it is?" Genesis questioned as he and Angeal trudged through snow back towards Sephiroth and their supply drop. In front of him, Angeal just shook his head and the auburn haired First reached up to tuck the hood of his own jacket a little closer around his face. Gen would never deny that he was a rather vain creature but standing at the edge of the Northern Crater with only his lover and Sephiroth for company, he found that he couldn't care one bit about how unsexy he looked bundled up in his jacket. 

When found themselves at Sephiroth's side by the crate he gave them a nod, "Safe landing?"

Angeal nodded, "We're good to go."

Nothing more needed to be said, the trio knew what to do next. They broke into the crate, grabbing their supplies and double checking what they had been left with. Shinra had a fairly standard supply drop, but there were some variations depending on location.

Between the three of them, they silently split up the supplies into packs and grabbed their weapons.

Once they were ready, the trio wasted no time in setting off in the direction of their objective. 

Th crunch of snow under their boots as walked was softened only a little by the icy winds that gusted by in random bursts. If it hadn't been so uncomfortable, Genesis would have thought the Crater to be beautiful in it's own way. Any magic that the natural and eerie beauty the waste land held over Genesis was stilted two hours into their trek. 

The first two bodies they found were mangled beyond recognition and strewn across the snow in all directions. 

"This one's Aaric..." Genesis announced, brushing bloodied snow away from a broken sword. The blade was shattered but the hilt gave away the owner's identity, a blue silk ribbon was tied around where the hilt of the sword met the pommel. The last they had met while training, Aaric had been boasting to his squad that the ribbon was a gift of promise from his girl back home. It was a bit of an out dated gesture but the Second Class SOLDIER had looked so in love when speaking of it, and of her, that Genesis couldn't help but be moved, he was quite the romantic after all. 

Genesis stashed the broken sword into his own pack, he'd make sure it was sent home with the rest of the Second's belongings once they returned to Midgar. 

"Found Kadir's tags... " Genesis turned to Angeal, despite the dark haired man speaking in a rather even tone, Gen knew how much this disturbed his lover. Being in SOLDIER was like have a whole extended family, it was a brotherhood. Even if you didn't know everyone's life story, there was still that sense of lose felt in their death. 

"So where's the rest of the team?" Sephiroth spoke up finally, "They were assigned with Reed, Duncan and Sky, were they not?"

"Skyler, and we should continue on. I don't think we will find any more answers here." Angeal said, voice a bit on the tight side.

If Sephiroth was annoyed at being corrected, he did not show it. He nodded and continued in the direction of their destination, Genesis and Angeal followed behind once more. 

As they walked, Angeal reached out behind him, taking one of Genesis' hands in his own. They always tried to stay professional while on missions together but there was something about this one that was giving Angeal a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.. Genesis didn't deny him the small comfort and Sephiroth said nothing on the matter. 

The scene at their destination was no better, they found the rest of the team, along with the bodies of a few scientists, scattered in the snow once more along with the wreckage of a base camp. They collected the rest of the team's dog tags, staying alert to any danger. But aside from the carnage and wreckage, it was what the scientists had been there to study that was the real breathless sight. 

It was the largest natural mako spring that Genesis had ever seen. He same to stand as close as he dared to the edge, a few yards back just to be safe. One never knew when the edge of a pool would collapse and Gen really didn't want to be dealing with the burns and toxic shock that came from undiluted mako. Despite the danger, he could appreciate the beauty of the pool and the crystallized mako along the edge and towards the center of the pool.

Angeal let out a impressed whistle, "Quite the sight, but all the for what? An oversized mako crystal?" 

"Let's find out." Sephiroth said, dropping his back beside the other Firsts and turning to walk away from the pool before suddenly pivoting back towards the pool and dashing towards it. He ignored a worried yelp from Genesis and pretended that he didn't feel the disapproving look he could feel boring a hole into his back as he leapt from the edge of the pool, soaring through the in a perfect arch, landing smoothly on the large crystal in the center. 

"What's out there that's so special?" Genesis growled across the distance. 

Sephiroth leaned down, brushing a hand across the surprisingly smooth surface as he was captivated by what was within. 

"Well?" Angeal prompted, "What is it?"

"It's.... an angel..."


End file.
